Translating CP30 into action

If you are a Star Wars fan, you will know that C3PO was a droid whose job was to translate from one language to another. So let's look at how the National Energy System Operator (NESO)'s Clean Power 2030 advice (see our Insight) has translated into the Government's Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.

What's 'clean power'?

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) largely agrees with NESO's definition of 'clean power', that in 2030, assuming a typical weather year, clean sources will produce:

• at least as much power as Great Britain consumes in total; and
• at least 95% of Great Britain's generation.

If you read the small print in the Technical Annex, DESNZ don't count Energy from Waste or most Combined Heat and Power plants as part of the power system, sidestepping the issue that these might not be low carbon sources of power.

How much clean power do we need?

In the next five years, we need to build a lot of new clean power plants. NESO had set out two hypothetical 'pathways' in their advice. DESNZ have basically combined these into a 'range'. Just to give you an idea of scale, we have turned the figures into a graph (the numbers are gigawatt hours/GWh). It involves massive increases in offshore and onshore wind, solar and batteries in particular.

Click here to view the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan Capacity Chart

This power also needs to be delivered to consumers, and the Action Plan acknowledges that approximately twice as much new transmission network infrastructure will need to be built by 2030 as has been in the past decade, in order to facilitate this.

How do we get there by 2030?

For most clean power technologies, these capacity targets can be met by delivering and accelerating projects that are already in the pipeline. They still need "significant policy action to unblock barriers to ensure timely delivery", to quote the Action Plan. These include:

• Planning and consenting - including a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill and reforming the legislative framework for electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland
• Networks and connections – reforming the electricity connections process to prioritise projects that align with the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. There is a whole separate workstream going on with this, involving DESNZ, Ofgem and NESO. We will do a separate update as there is too much to cover here. There is a separate Connections Reform Annex to the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan which breaks down the clean power generation capacity needed in each region of Great Britain, broken down by technology type. This helpfully looks forward to 2035, not just 2030, to give a 10 year horizon for connection offers.
• Improving the way Contracts for Difference are allocated – DESNZ needs to secure at least 12 GW of new offshore wind across the next 2 to 3 CfD allocation rounds to meet the 2030 target, so is considering several reforms to the CfD including; relaxing the eligibility criteria for fixed-bottom offshore wind projects so that those without full planning consents can bid for a CfD; an auction schedule with capacity targets to improve transparency and predictability; and possibly increasing the length of a CfD beyond 15 years.
• Reforming electricity markets – DESNZ published an update on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) alongside the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and has committed to a decision by around mid-2025 (and before the next CfD allocation round). But until there is a firm decision on whether or not to move to locational pricing, it will be difficult to attract investment. There are also reforms to the Capacity Market, which we will look at separately.
• Improved coordination and strategic planning – DESNZ acknowledge there is a wider framework being developed, which will sit alongside the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and lay the foundation for longer-term planning towards the 2050 net zero target, including: the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (expected in 2026); Centralised Strategic Network Plan; and Regional Energy Strategic Plans.

We need to be more flexible

Great Britain's electricity system has historically relied on power that can be turned up or down on demand (known as 'dispatchable' power). But most sources of clean energy are 'intermittent', relying on the weather (wind and sunlight). So that's why DESNZ and NESO both agree that 'clean power' still needs a small amount of gas, which can generate when renewables can't. There are other ways of making sure the supply of power always meets demand: changing the demand by incentivising consumers to use more power when there is plenty, and less when there isn't.

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sees a key role for both short- and long-duration flexibility. Short-duration flexibility is battery storage, consumer-led flexibility (being paid to increase or reduce power use) and interconnectors. These all need to increase quickly and it's encouraging to see the Plan acknowledging the current hurdles that they face and setting out actions DESNZ and others will take to overcome them. A Low Carbon Flexibility Roadmap published later this year will give more detail.

Long duration flexibility includes gas power stations with carbon capture technology, hydrogen to power, and long-duration energy storage (LDES). There aren't any new announcements on this in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, but DESNZ is already developing business models and a cap and floor scheme to support these projects.